Good Decisions (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
by ilna
Summary: Cody and his friends go to their senior prom and are faced with an unexpected decision.


**Notes:** Mari and Sammy – Thank you for the feedback and the opinions Every suggestion is ALWAYS appreciated. Thank you for being the best of the best. And one of the best decisions *I've* ever made was joining the REAL World team.

Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for your amazing support with each and every story. I'm particularly grateful for how much love you've shown Cody and the Allen family over the years. Thank you for being such fabulous readers.

 **Chronology note:** This story takes place *last* weekend.

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _Good Decisions (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)_

 **Saturday, May 13**

 **Kakaako Waterfront Park**

"Cody's got his grooms tux on!" Jacob announced when he saw Steve and Catherine slowly approaching the large group gathered in a grassy area near the waterfront.

"Grooms _man_ tux," his brother corrected. "And I'm lucky it still fits."

"Looks good," Steve said as he and Catherine accepted hugs from Jacob and Kaitlyn, the rest of the Allens and several more people standing by to take pictures prior to the senior prom.

"I even managed to get the tie right," Cody said and grinned wryly. "With a little help from YouTube."

Steve chuckled, nodding approvingly.

"Jess, your dress is gorgeous," Catherine said, smiling at the teen in a light mauve full length dress.

"It looks like your dress from your wedding, Aunt Catherine!" Kaitlyn bubbled excitedly.

"You're right, it kind of does."

Jess smiled a little sheepishly. "I loved your dress." She glanced at her mom standing nearby, then back at Catherine. "I saw this when we went shopping and it reminded me of yours." She shrugged. "I tried it on, and I thought it looked good, so …"

"It looks great," Catherine said with an enthusiastic smile. "That cut is very flattering on you."

"It totally is," Ally, Jess' older sister, said. "I'm just bummed I missed the shopping trip."

"But you're here now," Jess said, hugging her arm and grinning. "Oh! I should introduce people." She looked at the other two couples clearly dressed for prom. "Kels, Matt, Brittany, Ashton, this is Commander Steve McGarrett and Lieutenant Catherine Rollins."

"And Niblet!" Jacob cried.

Catherine chuckled, running a hand over her belly. "Nice to meet you," she said. "You all look great."

Introductions continued with parents and siblings of the teens until everyone knew everyone's name.

"Now, we're missing one couple, right …?" David Coleman, Jess' father, asked, fiddling with the professional-grade camera around his neck.

Jess nodded. "Jadon and Jewell. They should be here any minute."

"There they are," Cody said, looking toward the parking lot. He shook his head as he saw his best friend step out of one of the cars.

"Is that a red tux?" Steve asked, squinting.

Cody sighed. "He said he wanted to stand out."

"Mission accomplished."

Jadon raised both arms triumphantly as he walked toward them, joined by his date in a form-fitting black dress and their families.

"Well, what d'ya think?" he asked when he reached the group, doing a little spin in place and striking a pose.

"I think you'll stop traffic," Steve said. "Literally."

Jadon grinned toothily. "Thanks, SuperSEAL. I'll take that as a compliment."

More introductions were made, and Jadon's mother Kendra shook Steve and Catherine's hands. "Commander, Lieutenant, it's good to see you again."

"Catherine, please," Catherine insisted. "It's great to see you, too." She smiled at Jadon's younger brothers. "Hi, Reggie. Hi, Andre."

Reggie smiled at her and stepped forward for a quick hug while Andre gave a brief wave.

"All right," David said, motioning with his camera. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"Daaaad," Jess groaned.

"You're gonna be glad I brought the nice camera when you see how the pictures turn out," he countered.

"And so will we," one of the other parents agreed.

"Let's do some individual shots, some couple shots, and some group shots," David suggested. "Jess, honey, why don't you go first?"

While the teens were posing for photos in front of the waterline, the younger kids alternately ran around and talked and the adults looked on, chatting amongst themselves.

"How much longer do you have?" one mother asked Catherine.

"About six weeks till her due date," Catherine replied, running a hand over her belly again fondly.

"It's a girl?" another mother asked.

"Yes, we have a name, but we've been calling her Niblet."

"That's adorable," Kendra said. She sighed wistfully. "I always wanted a girl."

"Do you think you might ever …?" Jenna started.

"Oh no," Kendra said resolutely. "My baby days are over. Three boys is plenty for me."

"I know it's cliché," the first mother said to Catherine, "but you really are glowing."

Catherine smiled, nodding to Steve who was talking with a few of the fathers. "We're pretty excited."

"Of course. You're in the home stretch."

"We've been looking at prenatal classes this weekend," Catherine said.

"I was in labor almost 24 hours with Jadon," Kendra said, chuckling as she watched him hamming it up for the camera. "That really should be why he calls himself All Day J."

A few feet away, one father shook his head wistfully and said, "Senior prom. I can't believe it. Seemed like the last eighteen years just flew by."

"I know," another agreed. "Brittany's our last. The other two are in college." He looked at Steve. "But you've got all this to look forward to again in eighteen years."

Steve's smile was tight, but not unfriendly. "I try not to think about that."

"Ahh, don't worry," the first man said. "It's not so bad being the 'old dad.' "

"The-" Steve stopped, straightening. "Excuse me?"

"I was pushing forty when Matt was born."

Steve shook his head. "Oh, that's … that's not what I meant. I'm not worried about that. I just don't like to think about Niblet dating."

"Been there," Brittany's father said with an understanding nod. "I remember wanting to run background checks on every guy she even thought about dating."

Matt's father laughed. "I guess for you that's actually an option," he joked, then noticed Steve hadn't joined in, clearly keeping that particular option in his back pocket.

"In the end, you gotta hope you've raised 'em to make good decisions about that kind of thing," Brittany's father said.

Steve nodded. "Right. But a background check isn't gonna hurt anybody either."

After numerous photos had been taken of each couple as well as several group shots and other various configurations, David straightened, letting his camera dangle on the strap around his neck.

"Okay, I think that's everybody," he said.

"Um, Mr. Coleman … I mean, David …" Cody began haltingly. "Would it be okay if you took one of me and my mom?"

Several of the women immediately said, "Awwwww," to that, the mothers giving their own children pointed looks.

Jenna smiled at her son, touched.

"Great idea!" David said. "Let's do family shots, too. Get up there with Cody, Jenna."

So began another round of photos with parents and siblings getting in on the action. While Cody and Jadon were posing with their combined siblings, Kendra looked on and smiled. She glanced at Steve and Catherine and said, "Lil' Reggie hasn't stopped talking about that aquarium field trip, you know."

"He's so knowledgeable about fish and other marine life," Catherine said. "He made multiple observations in his journal at every exhibit, even though his teacher only said they had to do one."

"He does love fish," Kendra agreed. "I've been saving up to get a nice aquarium for him."

"Ohh, how wonderful!" Catherine said genuinely. "I'm sure he'd love that."

Kendra smiled happily, turning her attention back to her boys, all three so different in personality, but so obviously close.

After the sibling pictures were done, Cody glanced at Steve. Catherine nudged him forward. "Go," she said quietly.

Cody smiled as Steve approached and stood beside him.

"You've got me outdressed," Steve said.

Cody's smile widened. "For once."

Steve laughed heartily and David got a shot of the two of them laughing, Steve's hand on Cody's shoulder.

"Oh, that's a great one," he said, checking the image. He looked over at Catherine. "I'll make sure you get one of those"

She smiled gratefully. "Thank you." She motioned to the camera. "Do you want me to take a few pictures of you and Laura and Ally with Jess?"

"Would you?" His smile was equally grateful. "Thanks so much."

While he showed her the features she'd need on his camera, Steve and Cody stood off to the side.

"Did you get the graduation tickets yet?" Steve asked him.

"This week," Cody said. "We get them with our caps and gowns."

Steve nodded. "Make sure you get extra."

"How many extra?"

"As many as you can get."

Cody looked at him, surprised.

Steve put a hand on his shoulder. "A lot of people want to see you graduate, Cody," he said earnestly.

Cody's gaze dropped for a moment, then he looked up and smiled. "I'll ask everybody I know for tickets they're not using."

Steve patted his shoulder approvingly. "Good man."

Cody's eyes widened at that, as did his smile.

Once virtually every possible photo had been taken, the teens prepared to head to the prom venue in their various vehicles.

"Dance a lot, Cody!" Jacob exclaimed. "If they do the Chicken Dance, remember it's beaks, wings, then wiggle down." He demonstrated each step as he said them.

Cody chuckled. "I don't think they're gonna have the Chicken Dance, but thanks, Jake."

Jenna smiled and pulled him into a quick hug. "Have fun. Be safe. Be _smart_."

"I will, Mom."

"I know," she said, smiling softly. "You always are."

Next to them, Kendra fixed Jadon with a stare. "Yeah, same to you. Don't do anything stupid."

Jadon rolled his head back. "Ahh, Mama, come on."

"You hear me?"

"I hear you."

"Thanks for letting us use the truck again," Cody said to Steve.

"You're welcome," Steve said, clapping him on the shoulder. "It's kind of become a high school dance tradition. We'll swing by in the morning to get it since we've got the Highlander now."

Cody nodded.

After all the goodbyes, and a few more pictures, the teens drove off as their families watched them go.

"You're not really worried, right?" Jenna asked Kendra.

"No, because I know at least Cody has a good head on his shoulders."

"So does Jadon," Steve said.

Kendra smiled softly. "Yeah, he does." Her lip quirked. "Most of the time."

* * *

 **Pomaikai Ballrooms at Dole Cannery Iwilei**

Prom was in full swing with lots of teens dancing while others sat at tables or stood around the room talking.

Cody and Jadon stood with their friend Martez near one of the tables.

"Can't believe we're finally here, man!" Martez was saying. "Prom! The end is near!"

"I can't believe you've got a tux that's even wilder than J's," Cody said, nodding at his shiny metallic pinstripe tuxedo.

Martez clasped his lapels and preened. "You know I gots to look good."

Two other seniors joined them. "Hey," they said, exchanging fist bumps with the three. "You guys coming to the party at Craig's house after prom?"

Cody and Jadon exchanged a look while Martez shrugged and said, "I dunno. Maybe."

"You all should come," one of the guys, Damion, said.

"Naw, that's okay," Cody said. "Thanks."

"What? You got other plans?"

Cody shrugged. "Not really."

"Then you should come." He lowered his voice. "Ain't no parents gonna be there and Craig's older brother got a keg. It's gonna be off the chain."

Cody glanced at Jadon again and shook his head. "In that case, definitely not."

Both guys straightened, now exchanging their own look. "What's the matter with you? You got something against having a good time?"

"I'd rather have a good time I can actually remember," Cody countered, lifting his chin.

Damion looked at him, lip curled in disgust, but Cody didn't drop his gaze and Jadon stood straight beside him until Damion finally waved a dismissive hand.

"Let's go," he said to his friend. "Find some people who know how to have fun." He looked over Cody and Jadon. "Martez? We'll see you there?"

Martez shrugged. "Prolly not."

"Whatever," Damion said, sneering before they finally moved to walk away. "Losers."

After they were out of earshot, Jadon nudged Cody. "Dude, I remember when you hardly said anything. Now look at you."

Cody looked at him. "Well, I didn't really need to, did I?" he said, busting his friend. "You did plenty of talking for both of us."

"True enough," Jadon said, unashamed. "But that's that SuperSEAL influence right there, man."

"I got a good thing going at the governor's office, I'm not gonna do anything to screw that up." He raised an eyebrow. "Did you want to go?"

"Naw. You were right, that's got trouble written all over it. They'll be lucky if someone doesn't call the police."

"You right," Martez agreed. "But now we got another problem."

"What?" Jadon asked.

"We gotta figure out something to do after prom."

* * *

 **Tiki's Family Fun Center**

"I still say this sounds lame," Jadon's date Jewell said as the large group of teens approached the massive indoor playground.

"Come on," Jess said. "It's got laser tag, mini golf, bowling. And we're gonna do it all in our prom dresses! I bet nobody else from prom'll be here. We'll be totally unique."

Jewell grinned at that. "Okay, you got a point there." She looped her arm through Jadon's. "And I'm gonna kick your red tux butt at mini golf, J."

"Ha! You're on!"

They went in to pay for their activities and split off into smaller groups depending on who wanted to do what first.

Cody, Jess, Jadon, and Jewell headed for blacklight mini golf. After a couple holes, Jess noticed that Cody was preoccupied.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked quietly, touching his forearm. He had long since removed his tie and jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves after carefully stowing his cufflinks in the truck.

He tapped his toe on the ground, glancing down before looking at her. "I'm just thinking about that party."

"At Craig's?" she asked, confused. "You didn't want to go to that, did you?"

"No, no, not at all, I just … I got a bad feeling about it."

"A bad feeling?"

Cody shrugged. "I dunno. Like something's gonna happen."

Jadon and Jewell joined them. "What's up?" Jadon asked, studying his best friend's expression.

Cody paused. "That party. It's bad news."

"I know, that's why we didn't go."

"Yeah, but …" His voice trailed off and he took a deep breath. "Maybe we should do something."

"Do something? Like what?"

"Like call the police?" Jess said, wincing.

"Whoa," Jewell said, surprised.

Cody shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't want to be a snitch, but … what if something happens? And we could've done something, but we didn't …"

Jadon looked equally uncomfortable. "I don't know, man … I mean, we don't even know what's going on there."

"We got a pretty good idea," Cody countered. "You remember what happened at the after homecoming party at Randall's. Tim Rimer ended up in the hospital."

"Yeah, well, Damon and 'Rome were telling everybody about the keg, for all we know somebody called the cops before they even got started."

"We would've heard," Jewell said, holding up her phone. "Too many people were gonna go to Craig's."

"I don't know what to do," Cody admitted, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, his look pained. He tucked his club under one arm and pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna text Steve."

"Dude, Steve _is_ the cops," Jadon said.

"Not to tell him, just to … get some advice." He typed a quick message.

 _Hey, you there?_

The response was immediate.

 _ **Yeah, what's up? You okay?**_

 _We're fine. We're at Tiki's. I just wanted to ask you something._

Cody's thumbs hovered over the keyboard as he tried to figure out how to ask what he wanted to ask.

 _ **What?**_

 _What if you know there's something going on somewhere?_

 _And maybe nothing is going to happen_

 _But something could_

 _ **Cody, what's going on?**_

 _ **Are you really okay?**_

 _We're fine, I swear_

 _ **I'm gonna call you**_

 _We're in the mini-golf, I won't be able to hear_

 _I just wanted to know if I should get involved_

 _ **Get involved with what? Is someone hurt?**_

 _I don't know. That's the point. We're here, but there's this party, and maybe something bad might happen_

 _ **Where at?**_

Cody paused, having come to the decision point. He looked up at the others. "He wants the address."

They were quiet, exchanging silent glances.

"Remember that accident in front of your house?" Jess said, looking at Cody. "That could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I wouldn't want something like that happen to anyone on prom night … or any night." He looked down as another text came in.

 _ **Cody?**_

Heart pounding, Cody took a deep breath and started to type.

 _It's at_

"Wait," Jewell said suddenly, looking at her own phone. "The cops already broke it up. I just got a text from Ariana."

"What?" Jess asked.

Jewell kept reading the rapid string of text messages. "A neighbor called because of the noise and all the cars blocking the street."

Jadon exhaled in relief. "Off the hook."

Cody looked back at his phone as it buzzed with an incoming call from Steve. He switched to the message screen and typed quickly.

 _It's okay. Cops already got there. Neighbor called._

 _ **Okay.**_

 _ **Can you step outside for a minute?**_

 _Yeah. Hang on. I'll call you in a sec._

He looked back at his friends. "I'm gonna go talk to him for a minute."

Jess nodded and took his club from him. Before he could leave, she touched his arm. "For the record, I think you made the right decision."

His lip quirked in a half smile and he leaned down to kiss her briefly. "Thanks." He looked at her, then at the others. "Keep playing, I'll be right back."

He quickly weaved his way out of the mini-golf and through the arcade to the doors that would lead outside. He stepped away from the entrance and hit Steve's contact screen to place the call.

Steve answered on the first ring. " _Cody._ "

"Hey, I'm sorry I bothered you, I know it's late."

" _You're not bothering me, Cody. You're never bothering me._ "

Cody looked down at that, still feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole situation.

" _I just wanted to make sure you're okay._ "

"We're fine."

" _Yeah, you said. But are_ _ **you**_ _okay?_ "

"I … yeah, I guess so. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't want to snitch but …" His voice trailed off.

" _Hey, listen to me, okay? I get that, I do. It's tough. But you made a good decision. Even if you didn't end up having to give me the address or call the cops yourself, you were prepared to. And that was the right decision. Don't doubt that._ " He paused. " _You're gonna turn eighteen in a couple weeks here, and you made the decision a responsible adult would make. I'm proud of you for that._ "

Cody straightened, a small smile on his face. "Yeah?"

" _Yeah,_ " Steve said firmly. His voice lightened. " _Now go enjoy the rest of your prom night, okay?_ "

Cody's smile widened. "Okay."

" _Hey, that place has laser tag, doesn't it?_ "

"Yeah, we're gonna do that next."

" _Okay, don't be on Jadon's team._ "

Cody laughed, feeling his anxiety fading. "Right." He exhaled, his expression more serious again. "Hey, Steve?"

" _Yeah?_ "

"Thanks … for being there when I needed you."

Steve paused, then said, " _Cody, just because you're almost an adult doesn't mean I'm not gonna be there for you. I'm always gonna be there. As long as I'm alive, I'll be there._ "

Cody's breath caught in his throat, overcome suddenly by the sincerity in that statement. Exhaling, he smiled softly, any remaining traces of anxiety or uncertainty completely gone. "You know what else was a good decision?" He didn't wait for a response before continuing. "Going to that first Shop with a Cop. And actually going inside with you instead of … you know, just standing there on the sidewalk. Because that … that led to everything that came after. You know?"

He could hear the small smile in Steve's response. " _I know._ "

"In fact … I think that was probably one of the best decisions I ever made."

He swallowed around his emotion and when he spoke again, his voice was full of conviction. "I know it was."

" _I'm really glad to hear that, Cody. I feel the same way._ "

Cody smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

" _Okay. Have a good night. Text me when you get home._ "

"I will. You have a good night, too."

After ending the call, Cody took a deep breath, a small smile on his face. He pocketed his phone and headed back inside to find his friends. When he reached them, Jadon caught his eye from the end of the mini-golf hole and gave him a supportive nod which Cody returned.

He stood next to Jess who handed him his club and slipped her other hand into his.

"All good?" she asked.

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "All is definitely good," he said, and meant every word.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for Cody's graduation next week!**

 _Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll_

 _Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net_

 _Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com_

 _You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line._

 _And find Mari on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller_


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